Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Sinn Féin is of a similar opinion in that it is known that all three of the categories in our amendment regularly are on the receiving end of lobbying. The ones mentioned in amendment No. 27 are senior public servants between the ranks of Secretary General and principal officer, regulators and management boards of public bodies. I was part of a fisheries delegation to Brussels recently and many people in the fisheries industry, for example, are of the opinion that there are certain key players in the fisheries industry who lobby senior departmental officials on a regular basis and that the policies of certain Departments almost mirror the needs of the bigger players and those who appear to be closer to the people who have influence. The types of people I am talking about here are people of influence in policy-making. While Ministers have the final say, if one looks over a number of years and different Ministers in a Department, one often discerns that the trend in a Department tends to continue, even when the Ministers come and go. Senior public servants certainly have a key role in the development of policy. I appreciate the Minister has empowered himself to include these categories as designated public officials but Sinn Féin cannot discern any reason not to include them at the outset for the thousands of doubt in this scenario. This is why Sinn Féin has tabled amendment No. 27.